Hear from Our Customers
The fire trucks leave. The adrenaline fades. Then you’re standing there trying to figure out what to do next while smoke smell seeps deeper into your walls and water from the hoses starts growing mold in places you can’t even see.
Fire damage doesn’t pause while you’re calling your insurance company or googling contractors. Soot keeps etching into surfaces. Smoke keeps migrating through your HVAC system. The longer you wait, the more expensive this gets.
You need someone who can document everything your insurance company requires, contain the damage so it doesn’t spread to untouched rooms, and actually restore your property instead of just cleaning up the obvious mess. That’s the difference between a general contractor with a shop vac and a restoration company that does this every day.
When we finish, your insurance claim is filed correctly, the air quality is safe, and you’re not discovering hidden smoke damage six months later. You’re back to normal—or as close as possible—without fighting your adjuster or hiring three different companies to handle what one team should’ve covered from the beginning.
We’ve been handling fire and smoke restoration in Bargersville and the surrounding Indianapolis area for over eight years. We’re IICRC-certified in water damage restoration, applied structural drying, and mold remediation—which matters because fire damage always brings water damage and often brings mold.
We’re not a franchise. We’re a local team that answers our own phone, shows up in our own trucks, and works directly with your insurance adjuster using the same Xactimate software they use. That means fewer disputes, faster approvals, and less money out of your pocket.
Bargersville’s housing stock skews newer—median build year is 2004—but that doesn’t mean fire risk is lower. With 72% homeownership and property values well above state averages, the financial impact of fire damage here is significant. You need restoration done right the first time, not a patch job that tanks your resale value or leaves lingering smoke odor that never fully goes away.
First, we answer. Not a call center—our actual team. We ask a few questions to understand what happened, then we’re on-site in 60 to 90 minutes, usually faster if you’re in Bargersville proper.
When we arrive, we assess the full scope of damage—not just what’s charred, but where smoke traveled, where water from firefighting efforts pooled, and what’s salvageable versus what needs to go. We take photos of everything and start documenting for your insurance claim before we move a single item. Then we set up containment barriers and HEPA filtration to protect the unaffected parts of your property while we work.
The actual restoration follows ANSI/IICRC S700 standards. We remove fire residues, clean soot from surfaces, treat smoke odor at the source, dry out water damage, and check for mold growth. If your belongings can be saved, we inventory them, pack them out, clean them off-site, and store them securely until your property is ready.
You get a full report within 24 hours and updates every 48 hours after that. We handle communication with your insurance adjuster, answer their questions, and provide the documentation they need to process your claim. When we’re done, we walk through everything with you and follow up 14 days later to make sure nothing was missed.
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Fire restoration isn’t just cleaning up ash. It’s addressing every type of damage the fire caused—and everything the firefighters caused while putting it out.
That means removing soot and smoke residue from walls, ceilings, and contents. It means treating porous materials that absorbed smoke particles and odor. It means drying out the water damage from hoses and sprinkler systems before mold starts growing in your insulation or subfloor. It means cleaning or replacing HVAC filters and ductwork so you’re not circulating smoke particles every time your heat kicks on.
In Bargersville, where the average home is less than 20 years old, most properties have central air systems that can spread smoke contamination throughout the entire structure in hours. We address that. We also handle contents pack-out if your furniture, clothing, or other belongings need professional cleaning and storage while we restore the building itself.
You also get help with the insurance side. We use Xactimate to write estimates in the same format your adjuster uses, which speeds up approvals and reduces back-and-forth. We’ll advocate for coverage on items that adjusters sometimes miss—like duct cleaning, odor treatment, and secondary water damage—because we know what should be covered and how to document it.
It depends on the size of the fire and how much secondary damage occurred. A small kitchen fire with minimal smoke spread might take three to five days. A whole-structure fire with significant water damage and smoke infiltration throughout the HVAC system can take several weeks.
The timeline isn’t just about cleaning—it’s about drying, treating, testing air quality, and making sure nothing gets missed. Rushing the process means you’ll smell smoke every time the humidity rises or discover hidden mold growth six months later when you’re trying to sell.
We give you a realistic timeline during the initial assessment and update you every 48 hours as the project progresses. If something takes longer than expected—like waiting for insurance approval on a line item or discovering additional damage once we open up a wall—we tell you immediately, not after the fact.
Most homeowner policies cover fire damage restoration, but coverage varies depending on your policy limits, deductible, and what caused the fire. Your adjuster will review your policy and determine what’s covered.
Where people run into problems is incomplete documentation or missing items that should be covered but aren’t obvious to someone who doesn’t do restoration work. For example, smoke damage to your HVAC system, odor treatment, and contents cleaning are often covered—but only if they’re properly documented and justified in the estimate.
We handle the documentation and write estimates using Xactimate, which is the same software your insurance company uses. That alignment reduces disputes and speeds up approvals. We also work directly with your adjuster to answer questions and provide the technical details they need to process your claim. If you’re paying out of pocket for a non-insurance project, we offer discounts for military, seniors, first responders, and teachers.
Yes, and it happens faster than most people realize. Smoke travels through your HVAC system, under doors, through wall cavities, and into any space that’s connected to the area where the fire occurred.
Even if a bedroom on the opposite side of your house looks fine, smoke particles can settle on surfaces, absorb into fabrics, and create odor problems that don’t show up until later. Porous materials like drywall, insulation, carpet, and upholstery hold onto smoke residue, which is why you can still smell it weeks after the fire if it’s not properly treated.
We contain the affected area with barriers and negative air pressure to prevent further spread, then we assess the full scope of smoke migration using thermal imaging and odor detection. If smoke reached other areas, we treat those too—because covering up the smell with air fresheners or repainting over soot doesn’t solve the problem. It just hides it until it comes back.
Cleanup is surface-level—removing debris, wiping down walls, and getting rid of the obvious mess. Restoration is bringing your property back to pre-loss condition, which includes addressing hidden damage, treating odor at the source, and rebuilding anything that can’t be saved.
A general contractor can clean up after a fire. But they’re not trained in smoke behavior, moisture mapping, air quality testing, or the specific protocols required to restore a fire-damaged structure according to IICRC standards. That’s why insurance companies prefer working with certified restoration companies—they know the job will be done correctly and documented properly.
Fire restoration also includes water damage mitigation, mold prevention, contents cleaning, HVAC decontamination, and odor neutralization. It’s a multi-step process that requires specialized equipment and knowledge. If you hire someone who only handles the cleanup, you’ll end up hiring additional contractors to deal with the problems that surface later—and your insurance company may not cover those costs if they weren’t part of the original scope.
It depends on the extent of the damage and whether the air quality is safe. If the fire was small and contained to one area, you can usually stay in the home while we work—especially if we’re able to set up containment barriers and HEPA filtration to isolate the affected space.
If the fire caused significant smoke infiltration, structural damage, or water damage that requires extensive drying and demolition, it’s often safer and more practical to stay elsewhere temporarily. Restoration work involves noise, equipment, and airborne particles that aren’t ideal to live around, especially if you have kids, pets, or respiratory sensitivities.
We’ll assess the air quality and give you an honest recommendation during the initial inspection. If you do need to relocate temporarily, many insurance policies cover additional living expenses while your home is being restored. We can help you understand what’s covered and provide the documentation your insurer needs to approve those costs.
Smoke odor doesn’t sit on surfaces—it absorbs into them. That’s why washing walls or spraying air freshener doesn’t work. You have to treat the materials that absorbed the smoke particles, and in some cases, you have to remove and replace them entirely.
We use a combination of methods depending on what was affected. Thermal fogging and ozone treatment neutralize odor molecules in the air and on surfaces. Hydroxyl generators break down odor-causing compounds without requiring you to vacate the property. For porous materials like carpet, insulation, or drywall that are heavily saturated, removal and replacement is often the only permanent solution.
We also clean or replace HVAC filters and ductwork, because running your system with smoke-contaminated ducts will reintroduce the odor every time your heat or AC kicks on. The goal isn’t to mask the smell—it’s to eliminate the source so it doesn’t come back when the weather changes or humidity rises. If you can still smell smoke after restoration, the job wasn’t finished correctly.
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